Silver Rainbow, Croydon’s lunch club for older gay men and lesbians,
celebrated LGBT History Month with a special showing of a new film, and has
again been placed in the top five in its category nationwide.

The lunch meeting, at the Waterside Centre, South Norwood, on Thursday the
12th of February, featured the new short film Latecomers, directed by Olivia
Humphreys, about gay and transgendered men coming out late in life. Just
before the meeting, the news came in that Silver Rainbow has again been
shortlisted in the “Older LGBT Groups” category following readers’ votes in
the Pink Paper Readers Awards.

Silver Rainbow, which is affiliated to Croydon Area Gay Society, and works
in partnership with Age Concern Croydon, provides a friendly lunch club for
gay and lesbian people aged 50 and older. One of the two monthly events is
held at the Waterside Centre, South Norwood (courtesy of UNACC – the Upper
Norwood Association for Community Care); the other event is held at various
locations around the Borough of Croydon.

The Pink Paper, previously a fortnightly magazine, is now an Internet-only
publication, but is still promoting its Readers’ Awards. Ross Burgess, who
organises the Silver Rainbow lunches, said “We’re delighted to have been
shortlisted for the second year running; we now hope all our members will
vote for us, as they did last year, to ensure we’re once again in the top
three. Silver Rainbow is clearly making a difference to older gay people’s
lives.”

Olivia Humphreys, director of Latecomers, is currently working on a Masters
degree in Documentary at Goldsmiths, University of London. The film is based
on interviews with two older married men, one gay and one transgender, and
highlights their very different reactions to their situations.

Oliver Humphreys said “Latecomers is my first film, so I was learning as I
went along. Age Concern’s Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender department
were really supportive, which made me even more determined that I was
raising an important issue. Coming out is so often thought to be something
young people do, but there are all sorts of issues surrounding sexuality in
senior years. I want to make viewers see an issue in a different light – but
the documentary will tell its own story.”